PBS Earth Focus

Check out Earth Focus Episode 5 - https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/earth-focus

They also published shorter clips about both Mothers for Nuclear and the ytt Northern Chumash tribe.

Clip of Kristin Zaitz from Earth Focus - we should keep existing nuclear plants open!

The final product here ended up surprising us - we had spent hours talking about a LOT of other aspects of our advocacy for Diablo Canyon which didn’t get any air time.

Specifically, we hosted a group of women for a nuclear dinner where we explored their hesitations and skepticisms about nuclear. This was a big part of the process for how we each changed our minds, and we feel like part of our role as Mothers for Nuclear is listening with empathy before just trying to explain away someone’s concerns with facts about nuclear technology or radiation.

We spent hours filming our individual interviews in multiple locations.

We spent hours filming with our kids, hiking, swinging, exploring beaches, appreciating nature.

We had thought the story was going to give context to the importance of nuclear energy, from the perspective of moms who took a long time to change their minds but saw the dire need for more clean energy in our home state of California.

Instead, PBS sent a preview with an image claiming that Diablo Canyon was actually an oil refinery?!? We were horrified and worried that they were deliberately trying to get us fired. Turns out that certain publicists on their team simply didn’t know what Diablo Canyon looked like and had pulled some stock images related to energy in California.

Then, when we saw the final product, we found that much of our story remains untold. This story wasn’t about us, but rather land back for the local tribe. There were selective clips of our comments saying that yes, we could do it all for our community, including land back while also continuing to run Diablo Canyon. It felt like a strategic effort to shift our message.

Our message is clear in our minds - nuclear is vital to our future, and it needs different voices speaking up to promote and defend it. Diablo Canyon makes 10% of California’s electricity, and our state needs more nuclear if we hope to more fully reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Nuclear is absolutely our best hope, and we have no ulterior motives in our advocacy for this amazing solution - we do it for our future and for our children.